“Have you found the porn yet?”Her brow furrowed. “Porn?”“Yes, porn. You’ll know what it is when you see it.”…She aw the naked woman on the front of one of the DVD cases. She covered it up, but she wasn’t quick enough – Carmine had already spotted it. He laughed. “Told you you’d fine the porn.”She tried to shove the DVD back under his bed, but he grabbed the case and held it up in front of her. “Wanna watch it?”

“She's a great cook.""Yeah," Carmine said. "Probably the Italian in her."[...]Dominic laughed. "Must be. You know damn well she has Carmine's full-blooded Italian in her all the time."Carmine's muscles went rigid, and Vincent started coughing as he choked on his drink. Celia snorted, trying to hold back her amusement, but Dominic didn't bother containing himself.”

“You’re not gonna kill that doctor I just saw, are you?" Carmine asked, the heavy dose of morphine in his system clouding his thoughts. "I know you killed that other one, so I was just wondering."Corrado said nothing, and Carmine wasn’t sure whether that was good or bad."I don’t think you should," he said. "He’s just a doctor.""Carmine?""Yeah?""Shut up."Carmine decided then he should probably shut up.”

“Dr. DeMarco nodded, motioning toward Carmine. “I’m thankful for the Mazda— damn thankful you didn’t return it scratched,” he said, glaring at his father. “I’m thankful to be out of that ridiculous boarding school. Thankful for music and my gun... I fucking love my gun.” Haven looked at him with surprise as Dr. DeMarco laughed. “It’s a nice gun. I checked it out. A 1911 .45 ACP. Where’d you get it?”Carmine shrugged. “Maybe I don’t recall.” “Fair enough,” Dr. DeMarco said. ”Are you done?” “Uh, I'm thankful for you all, even if you get on my nerves sometimes,” Carmine said. “Oh, and orgasms... definitely thankful for those.” “That’s enough,” Dr. DeMarco said, shaking his head as he turned to her. “What are you thankful for, child?” She hesitated, her nerves running amuck. “Having food to eat. A bed to sleep in, too.”

“See how much she’s changed… you did that for her”“I didn’t do anything”…“You’re the one who made the difference … no matter what you do tomorrow, Carmine, what matters is that you did that today.”…“All I did was love her.”“Ever think maybe that’s what she needed? Sometimes we don’t have to really do anything. We just have to be.”

“Who are you anyway? What are you even doing here?”“Haven,” she said quietly, peeking at him.He gazed at her peculiarly. “Heaven? No, this definitely isn't Heaven. But I get why you’re confused, since I'm standing in front of you.” She stared at him, and hecracked a smile. “I'm kidding. Well, kinda… I have been told I've taken a girl to Heaven a time or two.”“Haven, not Heaven,” she said, louder than before. Nothing about the conversation made sense to her. “My name’s Haven.”

“Every "I hate you" that echoed from her chest was followed by an "I love you" from his lips. Every time she begged him to let go, he told her he would be there forever.”